A New Cousin

Introducing 
Catherine Eire Milabelle Wilson
7 lbs 15 21 inches
Mom and baby are well.



This week on Monday afternoon, Dan and Brandee's daughter was born.  We got to have Nicholas with us all day on Monday and Tuesday.  Samuel really enjoyed having Nick here.  They were really fun together.  Nick also really liked playing with Rubie and liked having Eric and Rubie around.  We were going to go see Brandee and Cate at the hospital on Tuesday evening, but hospitals have not been letting children under 12 in to visit, unless they are siblings.  There has been some respiratory illness going around.  So we waited until Thursday evening to go visit them when they went home.

Monday evening we had a neighborhood party, Tuesday I went to a relief society activity to learn how to use grocery $ smarter, Wednesday we had a YW activity--went to PG pond, ate, and worked on personal progress with Mia Maids, Friday there was no school for kids--Eric went to the zoo with Camden Norton, I fit a temple visit in on Friday night, Saturday Eric and Rubie had belt promotion, and I attended the Church General Women's meeting, today I was released from Mia Maid adviser and put into the Laurels, Scott had drill.  Normal busy week where I search for balance with training, gospel study and learning, cooking, cleaning, mothering, serving others, etc.

It seems that every day Samuel's vocabulary is growing.  He clearly is speaking his own version of names including Eric, Rubie, Brock, Paige, Addie, Bunny, Doll, and maybe some others.  He loves kids and is always so happy to have kids at our house and loves to see kids other places.  He clearly says baby, bike, cracker, daddy, mommy, apple.  He loves playing outside, going to karate, his daddy, treats, stories, trains and the train set, duplo legos, trucks especially construction trucks, cars, stuffed animals, going in the bike trailer, walks, rocks, puddles, popcorn, parks, the sand box, the playroom at the gym, the library, friends, wrestling on the bed, ice-cream cones with no ice-cream, chicken nuggets, fries, cucumbers, apples, chickens, dogs, cats, and other animals.  He has quietly gotten hold of pens and markers and left his own mark on floors, walls, tables, furniture, etc.

A trip to InstaCare, a Urologist, Student of the Day, a cold, and ride with Wonder Woman

Eric had quite the ordeal to begin the week with.  Saturday evening as Scott and I were watching a movie and Eric and Rubie were upstairs watching a movie together Eric came to tell me that he has something hard and painful on his penis.  I don't know why I didn't take a look at it, but since Eric didn't seem to be in any pain or bothered by it I just said see if it goes away or you can wash it off in a bath tomorrow morning.  Well Sunday he told me it was bigger.  So I looked.  It was a large red bump with a small white point in the middle.  Reminded me of a zit just starting to develop.  Now I was a little concerned but he still seemed fine.  Monday morning it was bigger and starting to be painful.  I sent him to school and when the pediatrician's office was opened called and got him an appointment for that day.  We went to see Dr. Connor and she said it was an abscess that certainly needed to be taken care of--drained, but that she wasn't equipped to do it.  She wanted to avoid giving him a shot in his penis to be numbed.  She thought we should go see a Urologist.  Which meant Primary Children's hospital.  Luckily there is also an office in Riverton.  We got an appointment to see him on Wednesday morning.  Dr. Connor did say that if it grew and became more painful before Wednesday morning that perhaps going to InstaCare would be a good idea.  Tuesday morning the abscess had grown bigger and looked like it could just burst.  Poor Eric.  But he went to school anyway.  When Samuel and I were on the way to the AF rec center to the pool, Eric called, just 45 minutes into the school day.  He was uncomfortable, in pain, and having a hard time sitting there in school.  So I picked him up and took him to the InstaCare.  The Dr. there was amazed at the size of the abscess.  He wanted to take care of it right away.  Again poor Eric,  The Dr. gave him a shot in his penis (and Eric hates shots and wants to avoid them), then without much time passing, took a scalpel, lanced that abscess and squooze the heck out of it.  Eric of course was screaming and I and a nurse held him down.  I was amazed at the hard white goo that came out of that thing.  It was gross and what an ordeal for Eric to have to go through.  In an effort to help me out Carlee came to get Sam from me.  I had put the car keys into the diaper bag and sent it off with Carlee.  So poor Eric, instead of getting him home right away to get him comfortable and resting, we had to sit in the waiting room while Carlee took Finn to school in Draper and then drove back to give me our car keys.  By that time it was about noon.  Sam had fallen asleep in the car but woke up when he heard my voice.  She would have taken him with her but by that time I just thought I would take him.  Unfortunately he wouldn't take another nap.  I got no workout in that day.  I just took care of my boys.  We still kept our appointment with the Urologist in Riverton on Wednesday and that took that whole morning.  Eric was doing much better with the abscess reduced to a small red bump.  It is almost completely gone now.  Dr. Connor called yesterday to follow-up with him.  The InstaCare had taken a culture of what came out of the abscess and she said it was a staph infection.  The InstaCare had prescribed a anti-biotic which I guess is standard for that sort of thing.  Having to deal with that really messed up the week for me as far as workouts and cleaning and cooking.  But that is what Mom does.  Kids and family first.

Rubie was finally Student of the Day on Friday.  She was so excited!  She wanted to be Student of the Day in her class since the beginning of school.  She gets to where a special little stuffed animal around her neck and bring in home for the weekend.  She got to do the math on the giant math worksheet.  There are other privileges but I'm not exactly certain what those privileges are for the day.

Scott had another cold this week.  Or maybe he never really got better and it just came back with a vengeance.  It was pretty bad.  He missed work at least one day and has had the air mattress set up in the family room most of the week so he could sleep and rest there.

Friday night I took Rubie to ride in the Wonder Woman mother/daughter ride.  There were probably 20 other moms and daughter's participating.  I wish that a bigger deal had been made over it for the girls.  We could have done a longer ride and had a ribbon or something for them.  But we just went around the park and then all came through the finish line with no one cheering or anything.  It was pretty anticlimactic and I felt bad about that because Rubie was so excited about it.  So I bought her a small bike jersey from a previous years ride.  It looks super cute on her and she can probably wear it for the next 6-10 years.

Saturday morning I participated in the 5th Annual Wonder Woman ride.
 

I tried to get some other biker friends to come out and ride with me, but no one was interested.  Maybe I should have tried harder.  I wanted someone to ride with that we would be at the same level so we could pace together.  I thought that Brittany Chatwin was going to, but she never registered and then had something else going on.  So I just went on my own.  I probably could have riden with the top 3 girls if I had my crap together. There was just all this drama for me getting the ride going. For some reason I took a long time getting out of the house.  The funny thing is I had a dream that I woke up late and was late getting to the ride.  Well, for sure that happened.  I meant to leave the house at 6:30 and didn't leave until 10 minutes to 7.  What was I thinking!  I was thinking get as much sleep as I can.  So I pull up to the park with 5 minutes to get my bike all together before the century ride starts.  Argh!!  And then my gear bag that straps under my seat with an extra tube and tire changing stuff breaks,  The zipper comes right off.  Crap!!  So I haul on over to the start line just as the 100 miler starts and see Marci Simmons.  I yell for her and ask for safety pins.  She runs and finds some and pins my number on me as I pin the gear bag together.  So I start probably 3 minutes after the 100 miles leave.  They are all strung out so far and I just ride.  I do want to get to the front but I don't push myself.  We have 100 miles to go after all.  But I still make it to the front of the pack except that I slow down a bit and talk to one lady, Karen.  I can see that there are still 3 riders ahead of us.  Gary Thurston is driving the HT training / Thurston cycling suburban in front of the riders.  We start to catch up to the front riders, I want to pace with them.  I try to get Karen to but she tells me she does not want to because she isn't very good at it.  We pass an aide station.  Somehow I loose sight of the 3 riders in the lead.  I don't know if they have stopped or we passed them.  Gary pulls the Suburban over, he is SAG for the ride.  I also get far ahead of Karen.  Wouldn't you know it I also get ahead of some volunteers and miss a turn.  I got about 4 miles off course, come to a fork in the road and there is no sign.  I call Gary to figure out what I've done wrong.  He tells me to back track and that the sign is on the left side of the road and the volunteers should be there by now.  Not only that but as I get back there all the other riders are making the turn.  So now, I'm back behind all the 100 milers again and probably the 70 milers have started too.  It's fine though.  I like seeing all the riders and I cheer as I ride past all the girls and the aide stations.  I don't know why more women aren't cheering.  I pass a lot of them that don't look too happy to be riding and I'm just cruising past and cheering and smiling.  Anyway, for the whole ride I'm chasing those 3 riders.  I'm pretty sure that one of them is Amber Foster.  One has on a T3 outfit.  I'm sure that I am just a few minutes behind them.  I have a good ride.  I pay attention to the time so that I fuel my body regularly and that helps.  I never feel like I bonk or am just done riding.  I stopped at the aide station that was at Lincoln Beach which was just a bit over half way for a bathroom stop, water, and oranges.  Actually I stopped in Genola too for water and gatorade.  The whole way from Genola to Lincoln Beach I never saw another rider and SAG support.  I wondered whether I was on the correct route.  But going around West Mountain there is only one route.  Stopping at Lincoln Beach was rejuvenating.  I stopped one other time after that.  One the 2nd loop I stopped with about 12 miles to go for oranges, water, and a shot of coke.  I loved the ride.  Other than wondering many times if I was really on the correct route because I didn't see any other riders or support.  The day was beautiful, the weather great!  So for the 100 milers I think I was the 4th finisher behind the other biker girls that I could never catch.  Maybe if I'd pushed myself harder I could have caught them, but I didn't want to bonk and catch up only to not be able to stay with them.  Sometimes it is hard to know how hard to push yourself.  But when I finished I felt really good about my effort.  I was tired and sore and didn't feel like eating.  Just drinking and sleeping.  That's a good sign I tried hard, right?  I loved seeing the superheros Heath always rounds up that were on the other side of Goshen Canyon.  Instead of a medal we received arm warmers at the finish line and there was a delicious nacho/salad bar and cakes.  Which all I could eat was meat on lettuce.  I didn't stay around very long because I felt kind of awkward not having anyone to hang out with.  I thought for sure I would know someone.  And well, I also wanted to make friends with the 3 biker girls.  I found it was Amber, Laura Anderson in the T3 outfit and the other lady was Donna.  Next year I'll do some better recruiting.  One problem was that James rode Nebo and the gang followed him on that ride.

 

Fall Festival

This is was just kind of a normal week.  Kids had 4 days of school with Friday off for Teacher In-Service.  Although Friday evening was the annual Fall Festival.  Camden Norton had come over to play earlier in the day and so he and Eric got to pal around at the Festival together.  Rubie invited Julie Huddleston to come along.  They played games and we rode a hay ride.  I played with Samuel on the playground and cheering the kids on.  We have been a little bit under the weather.  Scott stayed home from church last week not feeling well.  I still am suffering with sinus infection symptoms and Rubie stayed home from school with cold like symptoms.  Samuel as well has had a really runny nose.  I'm sure all of us have caught something from each other, I just need to figure out how to get rid of it.  For me it is really affecting my energy level and my body is producing a constant supply of mucus.  Yuck!!  I joined an Adult Swim Class at the AF rec center.  I'm committed to improving my swim to participate in triathlon.  The teacher is Jenn Mann.  I actually met her through Sarah Thomas at the Women of Steel Triathlon in May 2010.  She remembered me.  She gave me things to work on with my swim stroke.  I really hope her coaching will stick with me and I will be able to improve my swimming ability.

Phone message from Mrs. Soderstrom:

Included in an email from Mrs. Davis:

       Eric is a wonderful young man.  I love his enthusiasm and his genuine concern for the other students.  On Friday last week, he was especially kind to a little girl in our class who was discouraged about phonograms.  Eric made a special point of praising this little girl for her hard work.   He is a very positive influence in our classroom.  All of the children love him and so do I.

Started School, Went Camping, and More

Eric and Rubie started the new school year on Monday, August 25, 2014.  Eric is in Mrs. Davis' class.  He is excited to have Camden Norton and Jordan Rowley in his class again.  There are some others that he has had in kinder and 1st grade too.  One thing I love about Eric is how he gets to know each of the kids in his class.  I hear him talk about each one and something that student does.  It's impressive to me that he will remember things about every student.  On Friday we were invited to his classroom for a class talent show.  Eric was excited about what he heard other students would be sharing for their talents.  Eric at first wanted to do magic tricks for his talent.  But I talked him out of doing that because he does not know any magic tricks.  So he decided to do some jokes.  These are the jokes he told:

Knock, knock.
Class: Who's there?
Boo.
Class: Boo who?
Well, you don't have to cry about it.

How do you make a tissue dance?
You put a little boogie in it.

Knock, knock.
Class: Who's there?
Who.
Class: Who who?
I didn't know you were an owl.

What type of room has no walls and no ceiling?
A mushroom.

Many years ago there was an old man that settled in the Mexican territory that is now Texas.  He had a small farm on which he raised some milk cows that he used to make a delicious runny cheese.  The old man didn't have much except for some cheese he had stored up.  One day some banditos came by his farm in search of riches they could steal.  Not wanting to leave empty handed the banditos stole the cheese!  As the banditos rode away the old man chased after yelling, "that's notch yo cheese!!!"  In the next town the banditos sold the delicious cheese calling it Nacho Cheese.  So that is how Nacho Cheese came to be.

Eric had practiced his delivery with Scott.  He did very well.  He spoke slowly and clearly in the microphone and paused and delivered the punch lines well.  I'm proud of the leader he is among his classmates.

I was a little worried about Rubie having a hard time being at school for a full day, but there has been no concern.  She is in Mrs. Soderstrom's class and is loving her.  I have been in the classroom helping twice now and have seen that Rubie sits in the front row and she raises her had when she knows an answer and when called on will give the correct answer.  I'm proud of her for that because she is shy around people other than her friends and family.  She loves having lunch at school and loves having 3 recesses and going to the specialty classes of art, science, music, and P.E.  She is also making a couple friends in her class.  There are a few kids in her class from her kindergarten class also.  I will be serving as the Volunteer Room Parent again, plus going in at least once per week to help in the class.

Over Labor Day Weekend we planned a camping trip to Moon Lake, High Uintahs.  We got ready Thursday morning, still sent Eric and Rubie to school, then picked them up and headed out around 3:00pm.  We drove almost to Duchesne, UT.  Before Scott planned a camping trip to Moon Lake I had never heard of it.  Come to find out Mandy Warner's family had a family reunion there once.  There were no signs directing us to Moon Lake until we came upon one little road.  For a long while we were not sure that we were going to find it.  We were out in the dessert and cow pastures and were certain it was in the High Uintahs and not in a low dessert.  But then suddenly the dessert landscape began to change into high mountain terrain and plants.  Then there were fences keeping the cattle back and we came into the Ashley Forrest and Moon Lake.  It was beautiful!!  

While the campground, lake, and all the surrounding area was beautiful.  We experienced lots of rain and cold weather.  We arrived at the campground around dusk and set up the tent just before it got too dark.  It rained in the night time but was clear in the morning.  After breakfast we took the kids on a hike, had lunch, and then came a rain storm.  It was like that every day that we were there.  We were prepared though and had crafts to do with the kids.  I should have made opportunities for me to swim in the FREEZING lake and trail run, but I never could.  I need others in the family to help me make that happen.  I knew I needed the practice because I was thinking of doing a triathlon that I would need open water practice for.  But with the bad weather and cold water, I could not bring myself to swim in that lake.  People were boating and fishing, but no one was swimming.  Scott dunked himself in the lake once and actually Eric and Rubie ran out into the water with him--which totally surprised me but it made them all so cold.

On Saturday early evening Joe and Tai and their boys Jaxon and Madden arrived to camp right next to us.  We were so excited to see them.  Joe has a way of making everything fun for our kids.  They love being with him.  

The weather was actually pretty nice on Sunday and we able to hike and play on the beach.  At different times during the weekend there was not rainy weather.  We did do 3 hikes and play on the beach a couple of times.  Sunday afternoon we were going to rent a boat/canoe to go out on the lake, but they were all rented.  That was the day there was the most people at the camp ground.  We made delicious meals and cobbers in the dutch oven.  We enjoyed walking around the camp ground.  Sitting around the fire, making paracord bracelets, medicine bags, and other things.  We enjoyed reading stories, and watching and listening to storms from inside the tent or under the porch/rain flap.  We loved watching the squirrels and chipmunks that were so active all over the campground and we loved hiking on the beautiful trails.  I hope these are memories that are children will treasure.  Monday morning was actually the most beautiful morning.  We packed up and left that morning.  It has taken all week to get the laundry done and the dishes from the trip and still there are boxes of camping gear and coolers in the garage to put away.  But it is worth it.  

One little blessing is that Monday morning I found the X-terra to be having some issues as I drove to the AF rec center.  It was losing power and all the dials and lights and radio were blinking on and off.  The pool was closed so we didn't stay but coming out I had to have a jump.  It didn't last though and died down the street on 1100 just a block or so down from the Murdock Trail.  I had called our insurance, GEICO, and they were sending a tow truck, Honest 1 was expecting the vehicle, and Carlee was coming to pick up Sam.  Why was this a blessing?  Well, it turned out the alternator and battery needed to be replaced.  I can just imagine what that would have been liked had that occurred during our time of camping.  That would not have been a good experience.  The Lord took care of us and blessed our vehicle until we were back home where it could be taken care of much more easily and conveniently.

Because of the cold conditions or other reasons I don't know, I came back from camping with a sinus infection.  But as the week went on I started to feel better.  Carlee talked me into doing the Yuba triathlon.  A couple weeks ago I mentioned I really wanted another event to do and she told me she was doing the Yuba tri.  With not getting some swimming in, a sinus infection, and Scott was going to have a class to teach in SLC, I was not going to do the race.  But then it turned out I started to feel better and Scott didn't have to teach the class so would be available to take Rubie to her soccer game and Eric and Rubie to their karate Open House event I didn't have a very good reason not to do it.  And I know that I need some practice and experience swimming in the open water.  So I got singed up for it.  I met up with Brittany Chatwin and Gary Henderson at Carlee's house to all drive to the race together.  I was so excited to be there and loved every minute of it except the swim.  What a joke the swim is for me.  I cannot quite figure it out but what happened is I think I panicked.  As the horn blasted for the sprint distance to begin I watched everyone else start swimming out to the buoys and I couldn't.  I did the whole thing with an attempt at the back stroke looking every few strokes to make sure I was headed to the correct buoy.  It was so embarrassing and humiliating.  I kept thinking I could get my breathing under control but I never could.  At one point I swam in a circle.  The guys in the canoes were cheering me on and letting me know I was headed in the wrong direction, and then got corrected.  I was afraid that I was the last one out of the water but I wasn't.  There were some wonderful ladies on the dock that helped strip my wetsuit.  My hands were shaking so bad.  Finally As I got onto my bike I felt like, now I can perform.  I think I ended up with the fastest bike time of all the women.  My time on the bike was 34 minutes.  Then I had a good run, running in 25 minutes.  It was part on trail.  I loved being there and am very ready to get this open water swim thing down!  I did take 2nd in my age group and 6th overall (in women).  My total time was   1:32:27.  The swim took me 29 minutes.  I actually did have the fastest bike and run time of all the women.  The run only by 27 seconds, but still.  Imagine if I could swim.  Hmmmm....